Striking Oil

Americans Discover Health Benefits Of Olive Oil

October 15, 1989|By PRUE SALASKY Staff Writer

There's no chance olive oil, the king of cooking oils, will be toppled from its throne.

Since the first civilizations emerged 5,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, the earliest documented cooking oil has been valued for its taste and versatility. The Roman Empire did much to boost its popularity, spreading the cultivation of olive trees and the production of oil with their conquests throughout the Mediterranean region.

To this day, the pressings from the fruit remain a staple of the Mediterranean diet. And now medical researchers in the United States attribute the low incidence of heart disease in Mediterranean peoples to their high consumption of olive oil.

The reason that olive oil - smooth, strong and rich - is good for us lies in its high percentage of monounsaturated fat in its composition. Though there are three edible oils - canola (rapeseed), safflower and corn - with a lower saturated fat content than olive oil's 10 percent, none can match its monounsaturated fat content.

The importance of this for a heart-healthy diet, as reported in August by Environmental Nutrition, a monthly newsletter of diet, nutrition and health, is that the consumption of monounsaturated fats helps lower LDLs (low density lipoproteins), "the bad cholesterol" and raise HDLs (high density lipoproteins), "the good cholesterol."

With this discovery, the oils with highest ratio of polyunsaturated fats - sesame, soybean, safflower, corn oil and cottonseed - have been relegated to a lower rung on the health hierarchy. Their consumption can lower both "good" and " bad" cholesterol levels, and excessive use also has been linked to cancer in laboratory animals.

So if you were looking for an excuse to indulge in the flavor and intensity of olive oil, the medical profession has provided it.

This doesn't mean you should rush out and start slathering all your food in olive oil. The American Heart Association guidelines on fat and calorie intake still hold: No more than 30 percent of one's calories should consist of fat, and of that, only a third should be saturated. When it comes to calories, all oils have about 120 per tablespoon.

Beyond that, olive oil is in a category all its own. The authors of "The Joy of Cooking" write: "After pressing, oils are refined, bleached and deodorized so thoroughly that, except for olive, the end products are rarely distinguishable one from the other by flavor, or odor or in use."

Soil and climate affect olives and their oils, much as they do vines and wine. In general, the finest oils come from Italy, with fruitier ones from Provence in France. The oils of Spain, Sicily and Greece have a more intense flavor and are somewhat less popular.

The most famous and widely revered "olio di oliva" comes from Lucca in the Italian province of Tuscany, where growing conditions impart a sweet, nutty taste to the olive tree's product. David has strong feelings for that famous oil but prefers the oil produced on the Ligurian coast. Others, she notes, find the product of Sassari in Sardinia the finest, while Apulian oil is considered by some "the best for frying fish.' Labels on bottles and cans indicate the oil's origins.

Ruth Spear, author of "The Classic Vegetable Cookbook" recommends trying several different oils "to understand the difference in types and flavors." Experiment to discover which suits your taste.

Both its strength and its price (about $3.59 for 16 ounces compared to $1.09 for 16 ounces vegetable oil) - as much as three times the cost of vegetable oils - mean you should use olive oil sparingly. Its most popular use is as a salad dressing. Cooks like Spear and David recommend using "the best possible olive oil" in salads. It also excels as a seasoning for pasta dishes and in spaghetti, with Tuscan beans and for pan-frying, sauteeing and sauces.

Its intense flavor, however, restricts its cooking applications. It's unsuitable for cake-making or in any dish where its flavor might compete with a more delicate taste.

In every other respect, we can have our olive oil and cook with it too.

OLIVE OIL GLOSSARY

Cold-pressed: No chemicals have been used to extract the oil.

Extra extra or extra virgin: Oil made from the first pressing; the best quality and the most expensive. May contain only 1 percent acid.

Light: Refers to less intense flavor rather than calories.

Virgin: Comes directly from the fruit but may be from second pressing; not as expensive or of as good quality as '"extra virgin." Comes in grades of fine and semi-fine depending on the acid content.

Pure: Indicates the third pressing; oil is extracted from the pulp after the first and second pressings are taken. It may contain solvents or have been made with a hot water process. The least expensive olive oil, it is a blend of natural and refined oils.